India now has 1,687 people worth over ₹1,000 crore and 358 billionaires (wealth over 8,500 cr approximately), according to the new Hurun India Rich List. Together, they hold wealth that equals almost half of India’s GDP. Seeing this figure, it feels like a moment of pride and proof that India has truly arrived.
But when I looked deeper, the picture changed.
Almost all that wealth lives in a few parts of the country. Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat together hold more than half of India’s millionaire households. Add a few more – Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana and these ten states account for over 90% of the country’s prosperity.
That means most of India’s new wealth is being created and lived in a few cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad. For the rest, the growth story still feels distant.
Reading the Hurun report made that contrast sharper. It is not just a list of rich people. It is a map of where India’s prosperity truly lives and where it still hasn’t reached.
Why wealth is concentrated in a few states
It is easy to say that wealth follows opportunity. But when I started looking at the numbers, I realised opportunity itself is unevenly spread.
Take Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, the financial capital of India. It has 548 people worth over ₹1,000 crore, more than the entire eastern half of the country combined. Delhi follows with 223, while Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Telangana make up most of the rest.
The pattern is clear: money lives where businesses can scale, infrastructure works, and investors feel confident.
These states have something others often lack that is urban density, financial networks, and formal economies. A business in Mumbai or Bengaluru has easy access to capital, skilled talent, and consumers who can spend. That alone changes everything. If you are building a company in Indore or Patna, even with the same idea, your path is longer and your growth slower.
I have seen this first-hand.
A friend who runs a small manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad once told me, “Success is not only about what you make, but where you make it.” He was right. Geography decides visibility, access, and speed. That is why we keep seeing the same few states dominate every rich list because they already had a head start, and the system keeps compounding that advantage.
There is also the pull of migration.
Every year, lakhs of young Indians move to these economic hubs chasing jobs, education, and stability. Cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi do not just create wealth; they attract it. The more people come in, the stronger their economies get, and the larger the gap grows between them and the rest.
Even policy and investment flow in that direction. Most major industrial corridors, IT parks, airports, and global business centres are concentrated in these ten states. When capital, talent, and policy all meet in the same places, wealth naturally pools there.
The Hurun India Rich List captures this reality better than any government statistic ever could. It is a snapshot of where India’s growth has taken root and where it still struggles to sprout.
The cost of unequal prosperity
Every time I look at these numbers, I feel two very different emotions: admiration and unease.
Admiration, because India’s ability to create wealth is extraordinary. Unease, because that wealth is pooling in only a few corners, while the rest of the country is still trying to catch up.
This divide has a cost both economic and social.
You can see it in how our cities are growing. Mumbai and Delhi are overflowing, not only with money but also with pressure. Homes are unaffordable, roads are packed, and even ambition feels crowded. Meanwhile, in many smaller towns, the pace is slow because opportunity never arrived there in the first place.
When wealth clusters in just a few states, it also shapes how people think about success. A young person in Jharkhand or Assam knows that to “make it,” they probably have to move — to Bengaluru, to Gurugram, to Mumbai. That silent migration of dreams is perhaps the biggest symptom of this imbalance.
I met a student from Ranchi recently who told me, “Sir, if I want to do something in tech, I have to leave. There is no choice.” His words stayed with me. Because behind every such story is a pattern that is of talent leaving home to chase opportunity somewhere else. Over time, this drains smaller states of the very people who could have built their own ecosystems.
Even for the states that are rich, the divide creates its own kind of fragility. When so much of India’s economic strength sits inside ten states, any shock that is political, environmental, or financial affects the whole country. True resilience can only come when growth is broader and more evenly shared.
I am not saying every state will have a Mumbai or Bengaluru overnight. But I do believe the story of India’s progress will feel incomplete until prosperity is visible not just in select cities but in the smaller towns, too and the ones where ambition still waits for infrastructure to arrive.
The way forward: A more balanced India
When I finished reading the Hurun list, I kept thinking about what these numbers really mean.
On one hand, they tell a story of the ambition of founders, families, and professionals who built something big from scratch. On the other, they remind us that the benefits of this growth are not reaching everyone, or everywhere, yet.
If India wants its rise to be lasting, this imbalance has to narrow. It is not about taking away from the rich or slowing down the leading states. It is about making sure that every part of the country has a fair chance to grow. Infrastructure, education, and digital access can change that faster than we think. When roads, internet, and capital flow into smaller towns, new opportunities follow.
We also need to celebrate different kinds of success, not just the billionaire stories from Mumbai or Bengaluru, but also the small manufacturing firm in Coimbatore, the design studio in Indore, or the fintech startup in Guwahati. Every such win expands the idea of what prosperity in India looks like.
A truly strong economy is not one where a few states shine while others stay in shadow. It is one where talent, ideas, and dignity of work find space across the map. That is when India’s growth will feel real when prosperity is not just visible in the metros, but audible in every accent, every corner, every street.
The Hurun list is a mirror. It shows what India has achieved, and what still needs attention. The challenge ahead is not just to create more billionaires, but to create a country where millions can feel that growth in their own lives. That, to me, is the kind of wealth that really matters.
Author Note
Note: This article relies on data from fund reports, index history, and public disclosures. We have used our own assumptions for analysis and illustrations.
The purpose of this article is to share insights, data points, and thought-provoking perspectives on investing. It is not investment advice. If you wish to act on any investment idea, you are strongly advised to consult a qualified advisor. This article is strictly for educational purposes. The views expressed are personal and do not reflect those of my current or past employers.
Parth Parikh has over a decade of experience in finance and research. He currently heads growth and content strategy at Finsire, where he works on investor education initiatives and products like Loan Against Mutual Funds (LAMF) and financial data solutions for banks and fintechs.